NYTimes.com: XENON100, a new widely anticipated experiment underneath a mountain in Italy designed to detect dark matter particles, did not see anything during a test run last fall, scientists reported Saturday.But, they said, the clarity with which they saw nothing spurred hopes that such experiments are approaching the rigor and sensitivity necessary to detect the elusive gravitational glue of the cosmos.The results also cast further doubt on some controversial claims that dark matter has already been seen."It’s the strongest statement about dark matter today and it reads: we have looked here and there and over there but didn’t find nothing,” said Rafael Lang of Columbia University, one of the researchers.A paper describing the work has been submitted to Physical Review Letters. Related linkFirst dark matter results from the XENON100 experiment
The finding that the Saturnian moon may host layers of icy slush instead of a global ocean could change how planetary scientists think about other icy moons as well.
Modeling the shapes of tree branches, neurons, and blood vessels is a thorny problem, but researchers have just discovered that much of the math has already been done.
January 29, 2026 12:52 PM
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